'Dead Island: Riptide' a gory, mediocre zombie thriller

May 5, 2013
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A screenshot from 'Dead Island: Riptide' / Techland

by Marc Saltzman, Special for USA TODAY

by Marc Saltzman, Special for USA TODAY

There's no shortage of exceptional zombie-themed action games to sink your teeth into, be it Capcom's Resident Evil series, Telltale's episodic The Walking Dead or Valve's Left 4 Dead 2.

Unfortunately, Deep Silver's Dead Island: Riptide isn't one of them.

While not a flop either, this sequel to 2011's Dead Island fails to deliver a memorable experience worthy of your money and time.

The story - which simply sets the stage for the gory action - begins where its predecessor left off. After narrowly escaping the zombie-infested fictitious island of Banoi, the remaining survivors - Sam B., Logan, Xian and Purna - are taken to a military ship for safety, but are immediately drugged and imprisoned by someone with other plans for the gang (and a fifth character, a tough Aussie named John Morgan).

To make matters worse, a monsoon carries the infection to the carrier, transforming the crew into zombies. The game begins with you roaming around the large ship, fighting against the undead and finding a way to escape the flooding vessel.

The bulk of the game, however, takes place on a nearby tropical island called Palanai. Choose a character to play the game with, each with different skills, or you can import your saved character from the original Dead Island game.

In a nutshell, Dead Island: Riptide is a first-shooter with scary "survival horror" elements and role-playing game (RPG)-like upgrades, with a strong focus on cooperative play for up to four players. That is, you can roam around this once-idyllic island on your own - running, gunning and slashing through thousands of flesh-eating zombies - but the game is better played with others online in a co-op mode.

Along with a new location, this open-world action sequel includes new weapons (from machetes to machine guns), vehicles (such as motorboats) and zombie types, including one that freezes you in your tracks with a horrific shriek and others that climb out of swampy waters.

Sounds interesting, no?

Problem is, the game is marred with a number of technical glitches (from freezes and crashes to graphical oddities), repetitive missions and combat, and bland characters you really don't give a hoot about - unlike Telltale Games' amazing zombie story, The Walking Dead (2012), based on the graphic novel and television series of the same name.

Graphics are also mixed - water and blood effects look good but not much else -plus animations are sloppy and the enemy artificial intelligence (A.I.) is far from intelligent. Many of these issues plagued the first Dead Island, too.

At best, fans of zombie lore or gory action games might wait until Dead Island: Riptide hits the bargain bins. Or perhaps this disc is a weekend rental. It's not a major disappointment, mind you, but there are simply much better zombie thrillers to consider for your Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 or Windows PC.